Information about Macedonian medicine in ancient Greece

Ancient Greek Macedonians were highly interested in the improvement of their physical and psychological health. At first, they worshiped the mythical god Asclepius and his daughter Hygieia. In at least 24 places in northern Greece, in Halkidiki, Thessaloniki, Kozani, Kavala, Thassos, Serres and other places, archaelogical findings were related to Asclepius. Macedonian kings were also interested in the development of medicine, for the sake of their fellow citizens and their soldiers. Characteristic examples are the close relations of Hippocrates with king Perdikas (5(th) century B.C.) and of Nicomachus (Aristotle's father being a physician) with king Amintas. Alexander the Great had as his personal physician, the famous physician Philippos of Acarnania. An incident between Alexander and Philippos of Acarnania shows the respect of Macedonian kings to their doctors: Alexander became ill after a bath in the frozen river Cydnus (near ancient Tarsus). At this time he received a letter from his general Parmenion for not to trust his physician. Alexander gave this letter to Philippos to read it and while Philippos was reading it and was rather frightened, he saw Alexander drinking the medicine he had given him. We may note that Alexander the Great as a student of Aristotle had a general education about medicine. Archaeological findings revealed two funerary monuments of physicians: a doctor from Thasos, who practiced in Pella as a public physician during the 3rd quarter of the 4(th) century B.C. and a physician named Alexander, who lived in the 1rst half of the 5(th) century A.D. The tomb of a third physician, probably a surgeon, excavated in Pydna, near mount Olympus (3(rd) century BC)also indicates the importance of physicians in Macedonia. Archaeological findings, like surgical knives, from the Hellinistic and Roman periods, found in the city of Veria, also showed the respect of Ancient Greeks to medicine and to their physicians. An example is the skeleton of a young woman with an anterior cranial hole found in Veria. This trauma was attributed to a delicate surgical operation, perhaps performed to alleviate endocranial pressure.